Fallout: Great Plains (Redux) [IC]

[Shadowsend]

"Agreed, although I'm amazed at your knowledge of such things, Aria. Have you ever seen a working Vertibird? Or a Virago lander? Those sound incredible."

[Lentrax]

Aria

Aria's grin falters for a moment.

No. No, I haven't. Well, I have, but not for real. Grew up in a Vault remember? We have access to a huge library of educational and entertainment holotapes.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Markis

*As Aria absentmindedly relays her wealth of knowledge, Markis blinks, a smile spreading across his face.*
"Girl - you sure you don't want to be the one manning the radio?"
*He can't help but laugh and shake his head, feeling like an idiot for the first time in a very long time.*
"You know a helluva lot more about this than me."

"Yeah, I know they'll need a place to hole up if anyone sees them coming, Bob. The Vault is about the most secure place I can think of. With everything thats happened, I don't want to press my luck, but the place withstood atmoic blasts. Even with the front door open, its a choke point.

Of course, this is assuming there's going to be a firefight. I don't know how many people would have access to this grade of radio, or how that psycho did - the guy with the grenade yesterday, Aria? Yeah. He's got something to do with this, so I want to assume the worst."

*Rubbing a hand over his face, Markis waits with baited breath for a response. How do I get myself caught up in all this mess? Oh, right. Cause I'm a sucker for someone in need. This brahmin drop is gonna get me killed sooner rather than later.*

[Lentrax]

Aria

Aria looks up from the head of a Mr Handy she is pulling circuitry from. She blinks as she takes in the looks she's getting.

Well, golly, I don't know. Do we have good maps for the area? If we do, I guess I could try.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Markis

"Not sure if we do or not, but if anyone would know, it'd be Anton up there."

*Watching the girl pull circuitry from the robot as she works, Markis can't help but be a little taken aback. It looked so much like a predator ripping the insides from a prey animal that he almost couldn't look away. He could almost hear the electronic squeals the machine would have made as it died.*

"Would you not..." *Exhaling slowly, he collects himself.* "Would you run up and see? You'd have a better idea of what you need. I'll keep these folks on the line."

"Bob, Yarborough, I don't know what you two plan on doing, but this sounds like it might be a hell of a good time - good tech to prospect or fix, whatever floats your boat. What do you say? Up for playing the good Samaritan?"

[Lentrax]

Aria

I suppose I could...

Gingerly setting her project aside for the moment, Aria goes inside to look for maps.

Hey, you have any maps around here? Or an atlas? Anything?

[Shadowsend]

O-Matic

Bob smiles at Aria. "With your abilities, I believe you could build one, one day." Thinking about the task at hand, Bob says to Markis. "I guess we do need to know how much time we have to get them coordinates. And what type of vehicle they're coming down in. Like Aria said, wrong type of vehicle, wrong type of location for landing."

[Hussam B.]

Yarborough

"Ah, what the heck... seems like the decent thing to do"

Besides, there might be a good reward in it somewhere, heh

"Got me my Road Atlas here, little lady. It's got most of the ancient highways and roads marked here, other stuff I marked also, mostly around Nebraska and Wyoming, bunch o' pre-war stuff is there already but that's prolly mostly gone, and you know, bridges and stuff might not be there anymore. So, eh.. I Always try to talk with caravan folk to keep it up to date but haven't been much East of here"

[omnitricks]

Declan

Being in the bar was has been all well and good so far, like a genuine vacation but Declan was itching for action and had no idea when exactly when his plans would come to fruition. Unfortunately for him his ruse to get into the city was way too good because no one would want to use him and he has spent the past few days drinking away. Finishing his last glass he finally asked in reference to the conversation earlier.

"The All Mart huh?" Declan wasn't too fond of the idea. Anton wasn't exactly the same sort of person like himself of the proprietor of the Beachhouse and was also a little too close to the Regulators but work is work and Declan needed to look like he was making himself busy so he wouldn't draw too much suspicion to himself.

Leaving some caps at the counter, the smartly dressed man headed towards the direction he saw the other newcomer was going to earlier. "Hey Anton. Heard you got some work which needs doing?"

[DungeonMaster77]

VOICE OF THE GM

Spoiler

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Good job, folks! Sorry about the holdup! Check the OOC thread for more detail.

For Declan

Spoiler: DECLAN

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Anton goes to answer you when a Regulator comes in and hurriedly whispers into his ear.

"Well, you can start by following me. My "go to" folks are going to need a hand, I'm sure. Let's go make some introductions."

He heads out the door, with you in tow.

Checking over things, Markis notes that Yarborough's maps are accurate enough and have Lat/Longs on them. In fact, one seems to be a pre-war flight chart.

While looking at the pro's and con's of each proposed landing area, Anton walks up with a man following him. Markis has seen him around, but doesn't know him well.

Anton says, "I heard, I heard. Look, this is a big deal. I heard about this kind of group, but...well, nobody really thought that they would have survived. Amazing, really..."

His voice trails off, his eyes looking into distant nothingness, seemingly lost in thought.

"Unless..."

The radio squawks to life again.

Let's...not put down near a major population center, okay? That may be a bad decision for those on the surface. Drop-ships don't tend to have very soft landings, despite the...uh...precautions."

Anton's eyes go wide in near shock. None of you have ever seen this level of surprise on his otherwise calm demeanor.

"Folks, if what they say is true, then we are looking at the remnants of a pre-war program most countries had in place, where they sent groups of people into space to try and survive the war. There were 13 countries that sent mini-colonies up into orbit around the earth. Those in the know last heard that the stations began warring with themselves. The last anybody had heard, one of the 13 had been completely obliterated. There's been zero contact with them until today. Frankly, I'm surprised that one of the colonies survived."

Checking the area where the vault is located (see link in spoiler tags below), you see a clear field about 1.5 miles southwest that should be okay.

Spoiler: Map

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Here is the map of the area in question, still green because of the nearby reservoir. Vault 66 is located in the "D" shaped clearing just west of the icon labeled "Blue River Wildlife Area." The proposed landing sight is about 1.5 miles southwest of the clearing.

With the proposed landing sight determined, and knowing what was going on now, the only question now, is what to do?

[TheMightyQuinn]

Markis

*As Anton, Declan and Aria return with a handful of maps, Markis smiles apologetically pointing to Yarboroughs maps.* "Seems like our new friend had us covered. My apologies for that."

*Listening to Anton as they look over the maps, Markis shakes his head, backing away a step to give Aria enough room to check the coordinates. He wasn't about to do any good with them anyways. They looked like gibberish. As the voice over the radio explains the situations with drop ships, he lets out a low whistle.*

"Well, you heard the lady. In the boonies it is. Colonies huh? I can understand people living in Vaults with everything they need underground, but how did they ever get enough supplies into space for a maintainable population?"
*The musing is more to himself than anyone else, and he waves it off quickly.*
"Doesn't matter how they did it, if they did it. We need to get them to the clearing and get them somewhere safe, and fast. The Vault would be the best bet to start. Close enough for a hike."

*There's too much going on. Raiders. Psychos, Legions and space-men. It would seem that Ark River had become a hub for strange happenings in the last few days, and Markis, for one, was ready for a slow day spent with a cold beer. Wish in one hand...*

"Alright. What have we got to deal with? We've got the Legion out there doing something - I'm guessing a good number of them to have taken out that band of raiders. We need to figure out what they're up to. We've got that psycho from earlier that killed the trader and secretary. He's around here."
*Pausing for a second, he turns to Bob and Yarborough*
"Very, very nasty cutter. He's killed at least a dozen I know of in the last few days just for the simple fact that it was fun for him to do it. Said his name is Kief."

*Pulling a hand slowly across his face, Markis rubs harshly at the stubble shadowing his face, the sound like old sand paper as he tries to get the blood flowing again. He looks tired for a moment, but picks back up quickly, his voice steady.*
"There's this group talking about coming down in a dropship 100 strong. Now, they don't seem hostile, but if it's true that they took out another colony, they've probably got some pretty cutting edge weapons. They're going to be spooked as hell and vulnerable - that's a bad thing to combine with guns of any kind.

Even if we do get them to the Vault, that's another problem. Aria? Maybe we could get a couple of your friends to high tail it back and fill them in on what's going on? You'd know best how to handle your folk."

"Have I missed anything folks? Speak up now, 'cause we're short handed as it is and my brain feels like it's been stuffed full of brahmin drop with all this."

*With a jerk of his head at Anton, he indicates Declan*
"Did you bring another hand with you? Because we're getting spread thin, and it'd be mighty nice to have even one more pair of hands."

"What's your name friend, and are you looking for work? Seems like plenty to go around, especially if you're up for a bit of excitement.."

[Lentrax]

Aria

Aria starts scratching her head through her red hair with the screwdriver still held in her hand.

I could go talk to Higgy or Elias, see if the vault can take them in... Wait a minute. Didn't you say these folks were armed? Or fought a war or something? I don't think I want them going to the Vault. Most people there wouldn't be able to defend themselves from anything, and Security wouldn't be able to hold out forever...

[Shadowsend]

O-Matic

"They may not have that many weapons, if you think about it. Unlike a ground war, their war would be about disabling each other's station itself. Given that there are few ways across, handheld weapons wouldn't be incredibly useful for such a task unless the stations got extremely close or sent small groups over. I wouldn't count on them all being armed."

[TheMightyQuinn]

Markis


"Those are both good points. I hadn't thought about that."

"Aria, maybe we tell them that if they're going to accept the hospitality of the Vault, they're going to have to turn any weapons over to security to hold until they go. That'd keep your people safe, right?"

[DungeonMaster77]

VOICE OF THE GM

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Nothing to add. Just keeping with the format.

Anton looks at you all. "That was two hundred years ago, folks. Who knows why that group was destroyed. Of course, we could, you know, ask them..."

[Hussam B.]

Yarborough

"I am still getting over the fact that people are in Space, heh. Seems like those pre-war stories, wonder if they used one of them REPCONN rockets -you know, them rocket toys? the ones that glow?- Anyway, my two bits is; if they are legit, we get them all nice and landed and wing it from there. Maybe them folks got their own plans, maybe they wanna go their own way... but its like my ol' folks always said; get the Brahmin nice and ready, then worry about the pack"

[Lentrax]

Aria

Well, I suppose that wouldn't hurt...

She takes the radio, and starts talking to the folks on the other end. She waves her screwdriver around as she talks. She isn't menacing with it, not intentionally, but you can tell her slight absentmindedness has her already forgotten that you were standing right next to her.

Hi. My name is Aria Jeffries. My family has lived, as everyone has in the vault for the last 200 years. We only sent out a small scouting party the day before last, and things are definitely not very friendly down here. There are apparently roving bands of marauders, some of them large enough to call themselves legions apparently. People are killing each other down here, and crucifying others. It is not a pretty place. Now, the place that we have picked out for you is near to my Vault, my home. I need to know. What are your intentions?

[omnitricks]

Declan

A space colony. That sounded like something which came out of optimistic ideas of people which couldn't take the wasteland but those ideas are pretty much lost on Declan. If anything, the only thing which would be of interest from them would be either their potential to become slaves or whatever high tech space gear they brought along with them. Either way, Declan would reserve any ideas of his own until something of interest to him shows itself.

"If you're so concerned with them being dangerous maybe they'll make your decision easier by burning up over in space. If that idea upsets your stomach maybe you should focus on getting them down safely before worrying about their intentions and making things uncomfortable." he suggested with arms crossed before looking for a seat of his own until the group resolves this space landing mess. There was no help he could actually offer with technical problems like this.

[Lentrax]

Aria

That got her attention. Aria actually turned from her radio to talk to this new newcomer. Wow. Really? Ya know, I may not know these people, they may be raving lunatics for living in space for all their lives. They're probably like ten or eleven feet tall from living in low-grav environments thier whole lives. For all we know they're weak and pathetic thin--... Oh... Oh my... I hadn't thought of that... Umm, Aria turns back to the radio and hits the transmitter button.

Hey, um... Another concern here from land control. You people used to earth gravity? Or any gravity, or just zero-g?

[Shadowsend]

O-Matic

"Shall we be off then? We may need to secure their landing site."

[TheMightyQuinn]

Markis

"I don't see why we can't. The radio isn't stationary or anything. I've got a rucksack we can carry it in and keep it on while we move. If something changes, we can send a runner back to Ark River to let them know."

*Moving over to the steel cage cart he'd brought back, he grabs a heavy canvas bag with carrying straps, tossing it to Aria before returning to the cart to quickly deposit his things into his own backpack and other pockets.

Looking up at the harsh sky, he takes stock of how much time the sun has left in the sky before turning to the rest of the group.*

"We should have enough time to make it there before it gets dark, but we're going to have to set a decent pace. Aria, if you had a brahmin to ride on, could you keep working on your Handy-cam on the way?"

*Looking over to the three new hires, he smiles warmly.*
"I'm not sure about you lot yet, and there's no way you can trust us fully, but we work together and everyone comes out ahead. I've been having a rather pleasant day, all things considered. I'd rather not ruin it by having to shoot anyone."

[Hussam B.]

Yarborough

"I already said I am on board. Though if I am figuring this right, then you folks seem to be fixing to have the landing at her place", he said nodding to an Aria on the radio, "So you folk seem to already know a bit of the area, I am thinking. If you'd be so kind as to give like a rundown of the general vicinity, it'd be much obliged"

Maybe even get to see what a vault looks like from the inside. Well, one that's not dirty, rusted, vermin infest nor radioactive, heh. Thought the only one still around that's kept in shape was the Vault City one, and those were a bunch of tight-asses.

[DungeonMaster77]

VOICE OF THE GM

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Sorry for the mixup...thought I submitted the post, but had not. My bad.

The radio again crackles to life...

"Okay...makes sense you want some information on us...understandable. Well, we used to be 13 separate stations, all from differing countries. After the great war began, one of the stations began attacking several others for supplies. It was the one owned by the Chinese. The others that had weapons defended themselves and destroyed the station, but saved half of the civilian population that had wanted peace. Realizing what kind of mess we were all in, the remaining stations banded together on what we called 'Unity Day.' We've been working together to survive ever since. The only problems we had were keeping up our life-support systems, and controlling our population. Nothing drastic other than having a restriction as to the number of children that parents were permitted to have. As far as our numbers, well...our station isn't going to hold up for much longer at our current population. We have artificial gravity here, and should be fine once we get to the surface. We can pre-program coordinates for the drop-ship to land at and meet you there. The first people we send aren't going to be dangerous and won't be armed. Frankly, we didn't expect to get any kind of response here, so we didn't think they'd have to have been armed, and can't arm them at this point. They are already sealed in the drop-ship. Is that enough to get you all to trust us? Can you help? Over."

After the radio goes silent, it crackles to life again, but with a different voice.

"Unnamed space station, this is is what is left of the United States military. We are prepared to take you in and assist you. Land at the following coordinates, and we will have people ready to transport you to a safe location."

Looking at your maps, you see that the coordinates point to a vastly different spot:

Spoiler: New Coordinates

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Here it is...

The location this other group is giving is about 9 1/3 miles South-Southwest of your location, on the south side of what was once Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. You could get there pretty quickly if you had a ride, or in about 4 hours if you had to walk.

What do you all do now?

For Markis, Yarborough, Declan, and O'Matic

Spoiler

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I need a Knowledge (local) check, as well as a Knowledge (history) check from each of you, put into spoiler tags at the end of your posts.

[Shadowsend]

O-Matic

"United States Military? How can that be right? Didn't they have ranks or something?" Bob wonders aloud.

Spoiler: rolls as requested

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Both knowledge skills are untrained, but I'd also like to do a Sense Motive on the second voice.

Local: (1d20+3)[18]
History: (1d20+3)[6]
Sense Motive: (1d20+5)[17]

[Lentrax]

Aria

Yeah, that'll work. I just needed to make sure. I mean we were talking about my home there. Yes, that will be fine.

As the other voice comes on with a new set of coordinates, Aria looks up. Wait, the government is still around? I thought that all went up in the War. They're probably way better equipped to deal with this than we are.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Markis

*He followed along the conversation, letting the other party speak and taking it all in.
All thirteen? How many people could each on hold? Even restricting population limits, they'd have had to be massive constructions to hold a viable population.

As the second voice comes over the radio, Markis' eyes go wide and he stares at it. The United States Government? No, that couldn't be right. The only people who claimed they were the government that he'd ever heard of was....*
"Hang on. The government doesn't even have a presence in DC. I thought they'd all been wiped out. I've never even heard of any remnants like this. This doesn't sit right with me. Aria, may I see that?"

*Holding his hand out for Aria to pass him the receiver, he thinks for a moment before speaking.*
"Station. Stand By, do you copy? Stand By."

"Unidentified Person or Persons. Please identify yourself. The United States government fell with the war and has never been reorganized to the best of my knowledge. While we appreciate the help, I hope you can understand our suspicions."

*Releasing the mic, he looks to the others.*
"I won't be able to tell them where to go, but some mystery man with a military radio giving them coordinates to land? The only other person that we know of who knew about both the station and dropped this radio off was that psycho that nearly killed us with a grenade. This smell wrong to anyone else?"

Spoiler: Rolls

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Knowledge - Civics = (1d20+9)[25]
+4 Int +5 ranks

Knowledge - History = (1d20+9)[14]
+4 Int +5 ranks

Knowledge - Current Events to see what he knows about the Enclave? That's the only people he'd have run into that claim to be the governement.
(1d20+9)[29]

+4 Int +5 ranks

[Hussam B.]

Yarborough

Franklin simply stood as he listened into the chatter going on, this was really way way over the head of a caravan guard from rural California. He heard those words when people talked about the pre-war stuff; "United States", "China", "Commies" and all that ancient legend sorta stuff.

Good thing these folks knew more about those stuff.

Spoiler

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No Rolls, both skills untrained

[Shadowsend]

O-Matic

Inspiration suddenly strikes Bob. "If we can figure out what location that person is broadcasting telling them to go to, we can use their coordinates to cross-check the map and then by extension, generate our own!"

[Lentrax]

Aria

There is no need for that. We were able to get the location based off their coordinates without doing all that. Our coordinates are just as good. But really. Does anyone what they are talking about, being the US Army?

[Hussam B.]

Yarborough

"Not a clue", the Caravan guard said, "Think I heard some prospectors talk about some pre-war stuff like that, and I think there was something about NCR and a cave way up northwest -er, northwest of California, like even after them tribal states- but that was ages ago, so not sure exactly"